Btw, after seeing the men tonight, I'm dubious about Plushenko's chances at another Olympic gold.

This might sound a little funny, but I really think it , if Plushy will be healthy, he can skate in Sochi, then he has chance to stand on the pedestal .. I'm not saying that he will stand, but he has a chance ... in the past he could do two flawless programs under any pressure ..

That was done in very poor taste. Plenty of people have got into trouble for their tweets on twitter. Ms. Gao seems to lack tact and sportsmanship. Wanna bet how fast this one gets deleted or taken down? I'll give until tomorrow morning + an apology.

What does she even mean by BS Worlds? All or am I just being a bit dim..

I love Patrick Chan, and I think its awful how people are blaming his for the whole thing, as really its the judges people should be blaming!

I really want Patrick to medal at Olympics but with a really good skate. Patrick is one of my favourite's along with Dai and Yuzuru but i was really applauding Denis for stepping up and having a great performance. I somehow felt let down when Denis didn't win as it was the best on the night. He does get a small gold medal for his Fs and his county must be so proud. I thought if Patrick was second perhaps he will work harder next season in training and make changes needed to have a better skate, but now i don't know if he realizes he needs more help. Maybe he wanted to win for Canada but maybe it would have been better for him to be second. One thing is its a shame we didn't see his FS clean as its wonderful choreography. Have to catch it on the practice video for that.

I don't blame Patrick, but this is such an awkward situation for him. I was thinking what I'd show friends to demonstrate what a great skater Patrick is. Well, nothing from this Worlds. They'd ask me what kind of sport this skating is, anyway. If I show someone a video of Janet Lynn skating "Afternoon of a Faun" all the way back from 1970 or John Curry skating his "Don Quichotte" long program from the 1976 Olympics, its easy to see what the fuss is all about even though some of the jumps these two immortal skaters do are doubles. If I show Kurt's "Casablanca" (or, wow, "Singing in the Rain"), or Michelle's 1998 "East of Eden," or Daisuke's "Blues for Klook," anyone will look at it and see why I spent two hours yesterday evening going through posts on a thread to see how things turned out. But what do I show them of this winning performance--this gold-medal winning performance--to get them to see the position of Chan in the skating pantheon?

I do not post often after a win because feelings are so high and emotional. As a Canadian yes I want my skaters to do well. But I want them to be given marks they deserve and earn.Last night I felt that Patrick should not have won. But I do not feel that he should be verbally abused. He did not post he marks the judges did and they are the ones that should be called to task. Canada is getting a beating because of it. It is not the first time that a skater has won with a sub par performance and after Patrick has gone it will not be the last.

I know that I can say that when he is at his best Patrick can be the best in the world. He was not at his best last night and he of all people knows it. I do not think he was proud of his skate but you do not hand the medal back and say I do not deserve it or want it. He was very subdued in the post interview and said it was not a good performance the one that he wished he could have done.

The judges are not doing him any favor by giving him the gold medal for that performance. I feel they would have done him better to make him second or third. He then would have got the message improve or you will not win.

If his jump quality after the first two quads does not give him a wake up call I do not know what will. He needs his technical coach back now. He has tried it his way for a year and it is not working. Some parts of his program have improved but without the jumps he will falter. The pack is at his back . If he does not get a technical coach and correct the problems if he loses next year he has none to blame but himself. If he gets a technical coach back and corrects the problem and loses at least he will know he tried to improve. His coaching team must realize that now unless they are completely out of touch with reality.

It will be a tragedy for him if he loses the medal because he wants to do it his way. But please do not shoot the mesenger and the messenger's country because the judges are not doing their job. I do not think Canada is happy he won without doing his best and he he is not either. But Dennis Ten should hold his head high he was the man of the moment and his absolute joy in that medal was wonderful to watch and Janvier did a great job too faulting onto the podium. They had smiles as big as the world on the podium and well they should have.
jfdw

I'm with you! I like COP, even if I think that some changes could be good...
I just checked the videos on YT, and I have to say that it was REALLY a weak competition! Ten is the real world champion, though... It's not Patrick's fault, nor the judges': they really did everything they could to give him that gold medal, they gave him 87 PCS (I still think that a two-points difference between them is a really generous score, Denis' arms position is so awkward!), huge GOEs, this system should penalize the falls harder, it's just this...

I do not post often after a win because feelings are so high and emotional. As a Canadian yes I want my skaters to do well. But I want them to be given marks they deserve and earn.Last night I felt that Patrick should not have won. But I do not feel that he should be verbally abused. He did not post he marks the judges did and they are the ones that should be called to task. Canada is getting a beating because of it. It is not the first time that a skater has won with a sub par performance and after Patrick has gone it will not be the last.

I know that I can say that when he is at his best Patrick can be the best in the world. He was not at his best last night and he of all people knows it. I do not think he was proud of his skate but you do not hand the medal back and say I do not deserve it or want it. He was very subdued in the post interview and said it was not a good performance the one that he wished he could have done.

The judges are not doing him any favor by giving him the gold medal for that performance. I feel they would have done him better to make him second or third. He then would have got the message improve or you will not win.

If his jump quality after the first two quads does not give him a wake up call I do not know what will. He needs his technical coach back now. He has tried it his way for a year and it is not working. Some parts of his program have improved but without the jumps he will falter. The pack is at his back . If he does not get a technical coach and correct the problems if he loses next year he has none to blame but himself. If he gets a technical coach back and corrects the problem and loses at least he will know he tried to improve. His coaching team must realize that now unless they are completely out of touch with reality.

It will be a tragedy for him if he loses the medal because he wants to do it his way. But please do not shoot the mesenger and the messenger's country because the judges are not doing their job. I do not think Canada is happy he won without doing his best and he he is not either. But Dennis Ten should hold his head high he was the man of the moment and his absolute joy in that medal was wonderful to watch and Janvier did a great job too faulting onto the podium. They had smiles as big as the world on the podium and well they should have.
jfdw

Peter Liebers - recognition at last

Originally Posted by bigsisjiejie

Liebers is one of those skaters that always seems to have interesting music selection and program. He's even better live, if you get a chance to see him. One of the men's B-listers that I actually prefer to watch over some of the A-listers. And so far he's doing great here!

I heartily agree! He has such a fluid relaxed style and hasn't managed to reach his full potential in past performances. For me his was one of the most enjoyable performances of the evening. I can only think of another 3 men who have such natural fluidity when they skate. And he looks like a young Harrison Ford!

I feel about COP the way I do about democracy: it's the worst system imaginable...except for all the others. *

Actually, my objections are not so much to the system itself; there are many things that are quite logical and laudable about it (or at least more logical and laudable than 6.0).

My objections are that the principles are being applied in a decidedly illogical and un-laudable (or is that il-laudable? ) way.

In the context of the Mens result, one example would be the way that falls are treated for PCS purposes. Although I do think that skating aficionados also share some small portion of the blame. Why? To illustrate, I was arguing just this point (that falls should affect PCS) yesterday, but many seemed to blithely dismiss it as some kind of attempt by a Yuna fan to whine about Caro's score (for the record, I argued exactly the same principles last year on this forum, when Yuna wasn't even around). It's only when the beneficiary is a somewhat unpopular skater like Patrick that suddenly the net is ablaze and up in arms.

My point: it's that, at least in my view, this was an issue of principle, and therefore reactions to it should be in a principled, universal and consistent manner, and not just when a historically atrocious result hits you over the head, or benefits/penalizes skaters you strongly like/dislike. The latter, passive attitude allows skating's institutional cadre to feel that the furor will inevitably blow over, and they can continue to get away with the way that they currently do things.

The whole anonymous judging thing irks me, and my current view is that the disadvantages outweigh the benefits. It makes the judges feel less personally accountable for their decisions. I'd be particularly interested in hearing others' thoughts on this point.

*paraphrasing Winston, who was just a veritable fountain of memorable quips